The fiscal cliff

[A Black Falcon]

Boehner's current plan seems to be proposing to cut taxes on the rich, because of course this creates more revenue. (Note: this is not true) The Republicans also refuse to say what they want to cut -- where are the cuts they want going to come from? They won't provide any details. And of course they act like Obama's proposals are laughably ridiculous, when in fact what Obama has said is exactly what he said he'd do during the election. By acting like they are, Republicans are trying to pretend that the election never happened and that they're in exactly the same place as they were before it.

Of course, that's not at all true, but I don't expect them to get the picture anytime soon, they're far too dug-in on horrible policy ideas and, as you say, destroying medicare, medicaid, and social security while also cutting taxes on the rich. As for taxes on the lower 98%... I'd guess that they're more willing to "compromise" on raising those taxes than anything for their core base of that top 2%...

Oh, one more thing -- it's not really a cliff, that's just a scare tactic word. It's more of a gentle downhill slope. Going over the "cliff" will have minimal immediate repurcussions. So yeah, if the Republicans continue to refuse to negotiate, I think we have to just go over it. I just hope that this time Obama really does stick to his word and force the Republicans to actually negotiate for once. Though most of his first term he usually compromised away most of his position before the negotiations even started, after when the Republicans would then demand (and get) even more, but this time he's being tougher. I'm hoping that this time he actually sticks with his positions and doesn't give in on far too much when pushed!

And on that note, as important or maybe even more important than the "raise taxes on the rich" part is that the end result of this can't cripple medicare, medicaid, and social security like the Republicans want it to. Obama can't accept a "compromise" that goes too far down that road... that would be very bad.

Open your eyes, Boner. Your approval rating is abysmal, whereas the president's approval rating is at its highest point in over three years. You cannot pretend to be the voice of the American people when the only people you're looking out for are the wealthiest 2%, all while trying to cut off benefits to those who really need them: the disabled, the elderly, and the poor.

But the american people want lower taxes for everyone, Grover Norquist insists! Sure, sure, they elected a president promising to raise some people's taxes, but that's not what they really want... and nor is that now more-Democratic senate. Only the house counts, I guess.

But wait... actually the Democrats won the house vote by something like 650,000 votes, overall, nationwide. The Republicans only held on to their majority there because of massive amounts of gerrymandering. I doubt you'll ever find the Republicans ever mention that fact though, for sure...

Speaker Boehner is outraged, but some House Republicans are softening up to the measure. Assuming all House Democrats vote the bill up, they will require at least 26 Republicans to defect in order for the bill to pass. I think they might be able to accomplish that. It's all a matter of bringing the Senate-passed bill to a vote in the House. If passed, the bill is projected to reduce the federal deficit by $1 trillion over the next decade.

It would be fantastic if they could peel off enough Republicans to manage this, but I don't really expect it... we'll see, though!